The hospital setting may be especially difficult for pediatric patients on the autism spectrum and their families compared to those not on the spectrum. Child life specialists are healthcare professionals specifically trained to support parents and their children and help prepare them for hospital procedures. Because of this specialized skill set,…

Education is a primary childhood occupation. Dysfunction in sensory processing can make it challenging for children to succeed in school. School-based occupational therapy (SBOT) services address these differences through sensory-based interventions. Limited research exists to support the use of sensory-based interventions in school-based…

Provider referral is one of the most influential factors in research recruitment. To ease referral burden on providers, we adapted the Best Practice Alert (BPA) in the "EPIC" Electronic Health Record and assessed its utility in recruiting pediatric patients with autism spectrum disorder for the national SPARK study. During a year-long…

Children with developmental disabilities lack sufficient physical activity in their daily lives. The purpose of this study was to see if children with developmental disabilities who participated in stair-climbing exercises had better physical performance and health status than children with developmental disabilities who did not. This study…

Objective: This study aimed to compare the approval of medicines for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) for pediatric patients across five countries. Method: A document analysis was completed, using the drug labeling for ADHD medicines from five countries; United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and United States (US).…

Intrinsic inequity in assessment refers to sources of harmful discrimination inherent in the design of assessment tools and systems. This study seeks to understand intrinsic inequity in assessment systems by studying assessment policies and associated procedures in residency training, using general pediatrics as a discourse case study. Foucauldian…

Interoceptive awareness (IA) refers to one's ability to perceive and recognize internal bodily signals. Our behavioral and emotional responses to interoceptive signals are determined by self-regulation. Therefore, IA and self-regulation have considerable impacts on children's daily occupational engagement and performance. Nonetheless, the…

Background: Vocal fold nodules (VFNs) are the main cause of paediatric dysphonia. Voice therapy is recommended as the preferable treatment option for VFNs in children. Aim: The aim of this systematic review is to provide an overview of the existing literature concerning the effects of voice therapy in children with VFNs. Methods & Procedures:…

Pediatric cancer is the second leading cause of death among children ages 1-14 (Whitehead et al., 2016). Approximately 10,500 children ages 1-14 and 5090 adolescents ages 15-19 have been diagnosed with cancer in 2021 (American Cancer Society, 2021). An estimated 28% of childhood cases and 13% of adolescent patients will be diagnosed explicitly…

We conducted an open-trial proof of concept study to determine the safety, acceptability, and feasibility of Mindful Self-Care for Caregivers (MSCC) for parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) (N = 13). The intervention was offered as a co-located care model in a pediatric specialty center where the participants' children received…

Background: Play is an essential component of children's development. Children with intellectual disability tend to have poor socioemotional abilities and impaired play. This study examined the effects of a medical/therapeutic clowning play intervention on the playfulness of children with intellectual disability. Method: Two medical clowns…

Background: Parents of children who are approaching end of life (EOL) state that interactions with health care providers are the most important factor in their overall appraisal of the child's health care experience. Interprofessional simulation experiences (Sim-IPE) have been shown to enhance health care professionals' knowledge, confidence, and…

The lack of access for the traditional clinical experience for nursing students, especially those in an Associate Degree nursing program, and the projected shortage of nursing faculty to educate nursing students in the clinical setting, fosters the utilization of different educational methodologies. The purpose of this action research study was to…

We have observed that as the theoretical landscape in behavioral science continues to proliferate and diversify, it is not uncommon that distance between subspecialties emerge, artificially accentuating differences between camps. This may occur at the risk of losing sight of the common ground, and worsening communication between subspecialties. In…

Over the last three quarters of a century, international guidelines and regulations have undergone significant changes in how children are problematised as participants in biomedical research. While early guidelines enacted children as vulnerable subjects with diminished autonomy and in need of special protection, beginning in the early 2000s,…